The passenger compartment of a vehicle parked outside during a cold day may become very cold, with temperatures reaching that of the ambient air outside the vehicle. Likewise, the passenger compartment of a vehicle parked outside during a hot day may become very hot, very quickly, with temperatures that greatly exceed that of the ambient air outside the vehicle.
Some drivers start a vehicle, activate the vehicle's climate control system, then leave the vehicle until the climate control system begins to heat or cool the vehicle. However, this requires the driver to leave the comfort of the indoors, momentarily enter the vehicle, start the engine and operate the climate control system, and leave the vehicle unattended with the engine running.
To avoid this, remote starting systems have been developed which allow a driver to start a vehicle's engine without entering the vehicle. Typical remote starting systems, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,828,901 to Birchfield et al., include a remote start controller positioned at a vehicle that causes an engine starter to start an engine based upon a remote start handheld unit, such as a key fob.
More advanced remote starting systems, such as the Excalibur AL-2000-EDP, produced and sold by Omega Research & Development (Douglasville, Ga.) have been developed. The user's manual to this system explains that its remote start controller, after having remotely started a vehicle's engine, shuts the engine off after a run time period. By limiting the duration the engine may run when remotely started, the drawbacks of less advanced remote starting systems are alleviated.
Systems such as the Excalibur AL-2000-EDP provide the user with a visual indication of the remaining run time period, and that the run time period has expired and that the engine is shut off, thereby allowing the user to once again remotely start the engine for another run time period if desired.